


Heir of Dragons, Heiress of Men

by AquosEvolved



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: (I know it's shocking), (except people actually bleed now instead of throwing sparks), Alternate Universe, Anankos hasn't degenerated yet, Azurrin Week, Azurrin Week 2017, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Mostly Fluff, more dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-11-28 18:37:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11423790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquosEvolved/pseuds/AquosEvolved
Summary: Seven moments shared between the Crown Princess of Valla, Azura, and the enigmatic Guardian of Valla.Done for Azurrin Week 2017.





	1. Enigmatic Swordsman - Day One, Armor

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to Guardian of Valla, one of the biggest, most highly specific AUs I've ever concocted. (I may not get to show off all the intricacies and such due to the nature of AzurrinWeek focusing on...well...Azurrin as well as only 7 chapters to work with, rest assured, though, the end of AzurrinWeek won't see the end of this AU) This is an amalgamation of at least a dozen "what-if" scenarios (i.e. "What if Anankos hadn't degenerated yet?" "What if Valla was never torn asunder?" "What if Azura never went through all the psychological trauma caused by the Nohrian Court?") and one or two character rewrites.
> 
> Some will be slightly out of character simply due to how differently things ended up because of the change in circumstances but some of the deeper, more primal aspects of their character will still be there.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For months, rumors had been circulating of a mysterious figure that stalked the streets of Lydeus at night; rumors of a mysterious figure that upholds and enforces law in the names of the Royal Family and the Silent Dragon Tribe. One fateful night, Princess Azura finally confirms the rumors with her own eyes.

     "Thank you, again, for your patronage Your Highness!" A shopkeeper called as Princess Azura headed away from his craft stall, a lovely wooden charm carved into the likeness of a Silent Dragon's tail now tied to her lance. She responded by smiling at him from over her shoulder and waving.

     "The sun is setting, Lady Azura. With members of Condor at large, I cannot advise staying out after dark." An archeress at her side said, her purple ponytail whipping ever so slightly as she turned to face her liege.

     "Right. My Mother and Father would be most displeased with you if something were to happen to me, Agatha." A sly grin gently pulled at the corners of the princess's mouth.

     "And rightfully so." Agatha smirked.

     As retainer and liege walked through the streets of Lydeus, they passed vendors as they closed shop for the night and children ran past them on their way home. The buildings around them cast long shadows in the fading golden light of the setting sun and the already dark alleyways got darker by the minute. Guards on patrol lit lanterns one by one, igniting the oil within to combat the fast encroaching darkness. As Azura and Agatha passed out of the commercial district and into residential, Azura could have sworn she saw a figure clad in gleaming silver armor moving in the shadows of a building out of the corner of her eye but when she focused her gaze, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

     "Maybe it's that Guardian everyone's been talking about." Agatha snorted.

     "I'm being quite serious, Agatha. One moment, I saw someone duck into the alley and it was as if they had completely vanished the next!" Azura insisted.

     "It was probably just a trick of the light, Lady Azura. Nobody would dare try to sneak up on you if I'm here. Besides, isn't this so-called "Guardian" supposed to be a good guy?" The teasing lilt in the archeress's voice drew an aggravated sigh from her charge. Azura stopped and folded her arms.

     "Do you really think it appropriate to be mocking my concerns?" Her voice was stern and the lilac-haired woman wilted slightly under her baleful gaze. Despite it being well within her rights as a princess, Azura hardly pulled the royalty card with her friend, so Agatha knew she truly meant business.

     "You're right, Lady Azura, my apologies." Agatha dipped her head. "I will take measures to ensure your safety, milady." She reached behind her, pulled her bow from where it was hooked below her quiver with her right hand, and grabbed an arrow with her left. With newfound caution in each step, they swept their gazes through the shadows and proceeded onward. The pair rounded a corner and Agatha held her arm out to motion for Azura to stop.

     "Do you hear that?" The archeress asked in a hushed voice; the princess silently shook her head. "There it is again." It was faint, but Azura definitely heard something that time; it was quiet but she could hear the shriek of clashing steel and a guttural grunt of effort.

     "Sounds like trouble." Azura noted quietly. There was another clash followed by a scream.

     "Sounds like someone needs help!" Agatha corrected before she dashed off towards the source of the sound.

     "Agatha, wait!" Azura ran after the lilac-haired woman. "Why is it that  _I'm_ keeping  _her_ from making a rash decision?" 

     The chase continued until the road they ran down opened into a small courtyard. Gardens decorated with petunias and lilies and shrubbery were intersected by a pair of paved pathways that made a cross to meet at the center, where a sizeable fountain stood. Six warriors in light armor that bore the charcoal and vermillion colors of the Condors surrounded a tall, lithe figure clad in silver. A guard laid dead at the feet of the lone swordsman, positioned as if the two had stood back to back. Azura arrived just in time to witness the figure in silver armor hoist one of their assailants into the air by the neck with strength impossible of someone their size before they turned and thrust him into the fountain to their left.

     "Who's next?" A distorted but nonetheless distinctly masculine voice asked. "Come on then, you scoundrels! Who's next?" There was a confident, almost  _amused_ tone to his voice. His back was turned to Azura so she couldn't see much; what she did see, however, was a thick, wild mane of silver hair spilling out of the back of a helm of silver and royal blue.  His back was covered in plates that were linked by a series of golden decorations that gave off the appearance of a spinal column and some parts were covered by a pair of white capes that attached at his shoulders. From what she could see, this man clad in silver and cerulean perfectly matched the rumors she heard of the self-proclaimed "Guardian of Valla."

     "Fighting 5 on 1?! Is he crazy?!" Agatha hissed to no one in particular from where she hid in a bush, waiting for a moment to strike.

     Wasting no time, Azura spun her Blessed Lance in her hands to hold it above her head before she charged in and brought the weapon down against the sopping wet swordsman that was trying to haul himself out of the fountain. The flat of her elegant polearm crashed against his head with such force that the entire shaft of the weapon shook from the sudden stop. Azura readjusted her grip once again and moved to stand back to back with the Guardian.

     "I appreciate the thought, miss, but you really shou-rrrrRRRRAUUUGHHH!" The Guardian interrupted himself to loose a spirited roar when he brought up a gleaming golden sword to block an axe strike and pushed back against the incoming force with all his might, sending the man stumbling backward even though the fighter was easily as twice as burly as him. "You really shouldn't be here. A battlefield, even a makeshift one, is no place for a maiden as young as you. I'll see to these dastards myself."

     "You ask me to leave a citizen of my kingdom to fend for himself while I run and hide? That wouldn't be very noble of me, would it?" The princess asked, her tone equal parts smugness and incredulity. As a second swordsman drew close, she pulled her lance out to her side and drew it across her front in a sweeping horizontal slash that disarmed her target before she spun the weapon for a forward thrust that finished the job; he was impaled through his abdomen and slumped forward against the golden blade of Azura's Blessed Lance. His cloth armor soaked through with blood and what the quickly darkening orange cloth couldn't soak up ran down the edge of the weapon and began to fall in drops to splash against the flagstones below.

     "No, I suppose not, _milady_." The Guardian chuckled as he slid into a more offensive stance, driving the axe wielder before him even further back with a flurried set of flourishing swings. The man before him foolishly tried to block an overhanded swing with the shaft of his axe only to watch the weapon get cleaved in two and then felt a foot slam into his chest and knock the breath from his lungs. The now-defenseless warrior fell to his knees, his breath coming in uneven gasps. 

     "Mercy! Please, mercy!" He choked out, his eyes filled with regret and fear as the Guardian forced him onto his back and pointed his blade at him.

     "I've seen what you've done. You are a murderer; if the innocents you have slain were not worthy of your mercy then you are not worthy of mine. You have acted in direct violation of the law set forth by those in covenant with the Silent Dragon Tribe and now, in the names of Anankos, Queen Arete, and King Telyrus, I sentence you to  _death!_ " The Guardian drove his sword home in a downward thrust that drew a scream from the man, one that quickly turned into a bloody gurgle and then silence. He withdrew his sword from the corpse below him and looked up to find two of the three remaining already halfway up the street. The last of the three laid behind a bush with an arrow caught between his ribs.

     "Bah, pathetic cowards." The Guardian harrumphed as he flicked his wrist to fling the excess blood from his blade, which Azura could now see was surrounded by a faint halo of blue light. With that, he spun the hilt in his palm so his thumb was near the pommel and slipped his weapon into a sheath that matched the color of his bizarre helmet. "Are you unharmed, milady?" He gazed back at her from over his shoulder before he turned to face her head on. When seen from the front, his armor looked even more ornate and exotic than it did from the back; his chest was covered in staggered plates in a way that was reminiscent of a reptile's underbelly. His arms were cased in a series of overlapping tear-shaped plates that were laid flat to produce a scale-like pattern. On the whole, his armor had a very reptilian, almost draconic, aesthetic to it, his helmet especially. 

     An odd, almost jaw-like piece in the same color as his armor was attached to the lower portion. Two inward-facing slopes met at the middle and protruded downward to form a spike that extended to a halfway point on his neck. Large, antler-like formations spiraled upwards from the jaw piece and were attached near where the jaw of the wearer would attach to his skull. The rest of the helmet was a deep cerulean and was featureless, save for another silver-colored plate that started where Azura might have guessed where the Guardian's forehead might be and, from what she noticed when she saw him from behind, stopped at the base of his skull with the rest of his helmet. Two antennae-like ribbons protruded from where his ears probably were and fluttered back over his shoulders, bobbing in an unfelt breeze. There were no visors or any eye slats to speak of.

     "Er, y-yes. I am completely unharmed." Azura stammered upon realizing that she had been too busy staring to answer his question. "I am Princess Azura of Valla and I thank you for your efforts to rid my kingdom of these wretched criminals."

     "All due respect, Your Highness, but I know who you are." The blue-haired princess had to clamp her hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming when the "jaw" of the helmet split as the Guardian spoke to reveal a long, pink tongue and rows of jagged, serrated teeth. Azura let out a shuddering gasp, her golden eyes wide in horror. The antenna-ribbons quirked as the man cocked his head to his right in bemusement. "I let it go by without saying anything the first time but it  _is_ impolite to stare, milady."

     The two stood there with their gazes fixed to stare at the other - one in fascinated horror, the other in confused amusement - for several more moments. A rustle sounded behind them and the Guardian leapt to stand between the source of the noise and the princess. His right hand went to rest on the sword at his hip, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

     "Come back for more, eh? Maybe looking to kidnap Lady Azura while we both have our guard down?" The confident, amused tone from when Azura had first stumbled upon him was gone, entirely replaced by the righteous fury that filled his voice when he condemned one of the brigands from before to death.

     "Easy, there, Guardian!" Agatha called from behind the bushes, rising slowly with her hands up. "I'm Lady Azura's retainer." The Guardian's combat stance loosened back into a more relaxed but nonetheless poised and proud posture.

     "Very well, then. I'll entrust her safe return to Castle Gyges to you. Not to say she's not capable of defending herself, mind you, just to say that it's dangerous to go alone." His voice was still rather tense but sounded more strict than threatening, like a father reminding his children of their curfew. The Guardian slowly walked down the road, away from the courtyard and into the darkness of the night.

     "W-wait!" Azura called after him, having finally found her voice after what she saw took it away. "Wh-who are you, Guardian?" She didn't even know why she bothered asking but her curiosity got the better of her. He stopped and turned to look directly at her.

     "Normally, I would not divulge this information." Azura felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment. "However, Fa-err, Anankos has taught me that the Royal Family is to be trusted and you have proved him right. As a sign of respect for your bloodline's covenant with the leader of my people, you alone, Princess Azura, may know my name: I am Kamui and I am the will of the Silent Dragons." With that, he sprinted back towards the garden in a mad dash. Azura and Agatha quickly side stepped out of the way and watched in confusion as he ran past them and dove into the fountain. When his fingers made contact, the water turned an opaque aqua color and began to glow gently. The water around him bubbled and splashed as it received him and he quickly disappeared into depths that should not have been. When the light faded and the waters stilled, Kamui was nowhere to be found.

     "Kamui..." Azura repeated to herself in awe. "Kamui, the will of the Silent Dragons..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lydeus, the name for the capital city, is a portmanteau of Lydia (as in Gyges of Lydia) and Deus (Latin for god, rough romanization of the Greek word for god). The "Lyd" part is a nod to its proximity to Gyges and the "deus" part as a nod towards the Vallite people being blessed by a god/god-like entity.


	2. Hidden Spring - Day Two, Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamui is distracted from his hunting by a siren song from the most beautiful voice he's ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this wasn't intentional, but this one is a heavy contrast to yesterday in that yesterday was mostly actions between characters and not words and today is mostly words between characters and not actions.

     A crunch of grass and fallen leaves; a few shakes of a short, brown tail. A pair of gleaming ruby eyes watched their prey as it meandered through the forest. A dark muzzle picked at some bark on a decaying log. Predator waited in patience for prey to make a move and, as expected, the animal moved on.

     Kamui exhaled as quietly as he could. He'd been stalking the deer for almost an hour now and staying hidden from the young stag had proved a challenge. Sure, using his dragonstone and transforming would have seen this end the moment he spotted his prey given that Silent Dragons were larger, faster, and stronger than even the greatest of deer, but where was the fun in that? Plus, if he knew the lay of the land as well as he thought he did, he had wandered dangerously close to Lydeus and a dragon being seen in broad daylight would cause panic.

     The buck raised its head quickly with its ears perked up and Kamui stilled entirely. The young deer began to move again and Kamui resumed his belly crawl once there was sufficient distance between him and his prey so it wouldn't hear him moving. He watched in silent confusion as the buck's movements were a lot more deliberate now and it trotted along as if it were drawn to something rather than its previous aimless wandering. He didn't have to follow it much longer to find out what it was drawn to; it was faint but Kamui could hear a siren song in the distance. The singer had the purest, most beautiful voice he'd ever heard and, just like the buck he'd been hunting, he felt drawn to her. Her song was wordless vocalization, but it was a melody that he knew very well; a melody that he had known even at his earliest of memories.

      _Who is she? How does she know Father's song?_ His mind raced as he picked his way through the forest to find the source of that beautiful sound; a voice even purer and more calming than his mother's. Soon enough, he found himself stumbling into a clearing to find the mysterious songstress was none other than the Princess of Valla herself. The songstress sat at the edge of a crystal clear spring with her legs in the water. The spring shimmered in the sunlight and the gentle ripples that played on the surface reflected against her as well as the rocks that lined the water. She was surrounded by animals of all kinds that ranged from birds and rabbits to deer and foxes. All watched her intently as they listened to her song.

     "Embrace the dark you call a home," Azura's wordless vocalization gave way to the lyrics of the second verse and, try as he might, Kamui couldn't fight the urge to sing along.

     "Gaze upon an empty white throne." The animals scattered and the blue-haired maiden nearly fell into the spring out of shock.

     "K-Kamui!" She exclaimed in shock when she turned around to see just who it was that had interrupted her. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

     "I could ask you the very same, milady." The silver-haired man answered. "Not only do you wander the streets of Lydeus after dark but you also venture beyond the castle walls without an escort. You're quite the royal troublemaker, aren't you?"

     "I'll have you know that I've been sneaking off to this clearing for years and nothing bad has ever come of it." Azura said matter-of-factly.

     "Well, I hope you'll forgive the intrusion, Your Highness. I didn't come here to bother you." Kamui bowed politely, all former hints of smugness now gone. "If I may be so bold, though, where in the world did you learn that song?" He took a few steps closer and watched her facial expression with an intense curiosity.

     "The Ballad of the Silent Dragon has been passed down in my family for generations. One who knows as much about 'the covenant' between your people and mine as you do would surely know that, no?" Her amber eyes softened and she let out a short, bubbly giggle. 

     "Err, right. Of course." He said a little too quickly. He suddenly felt a light warmth in his cheeks as well as extraordinarily stupid. As his face heated up, he became acutely aware that he was entirely in his manakete form and she could probably see the light blush dusting his cheeks. "I'm just not used to humans knowing Fath-umm, I mean, not used to humans knowing the song of my people."  _Dammit._ He swore internally at his slip of the tongue. _There's a chance s_ _he might not have noticed last time we met but t_ _here's no way she didn't notice it this time._

     "You're not very good at this whole "mysterious figure who knows more than he should" act. You know that, right?" The light pink hue in his face darkened in embarrassment. "I think it'd be better if you dropped the act; those red eyes of yours are far more expressive than your dragon helm." Kamui wouldn't be the least bit surprised if his entire face was as red as a tomato.

     "That's the entire point of hiding my face and, for your information, Your Highness, I can pull this act off perfectly fine with most people, but with you..." He cut himself off before he could say  _with you, you have a charm that makes me want to let my guard down._  

     "So, Anankos is your father, hmm?" Azura changed the subject before either one of them could make even more of a fool out of him. "I can see why you wouldn't exactly be eager to have people know that." She patted the ground next to her, motioning for Kamui to join her at the water's edge.

     "I'm not ashamed to be my father's son but I do know that my people still aren't exactly liked by the humans, especially anyone who has direct ties to Anankos." Kamui sighed. "I was very young when it happened. Nobody would tell me what was going on, all I knew was that Father was very upset and I didn't know why." Azura let out a low, empathetic hum.

     "When we met a few weeks ago, you said that Anankos taught you not to hate the humans and that the Royal Family is worthy of your respect. The reverse is true with my father." Azura mused. "Anankos caused us all a lot of trouble but my father has always been trying his hardest to help us Vallites learn to forgive. He's said that after all your people have done for mine, one accident isn't worth going to war over. I don't entirely understand how something like that is an accident but even so, I don't think a son should have to carry the sins of his father, let alone an entire species pay for the actions of one."

     "Right." Kamui said absently. He took a deep breath and let it out with a quiet hum. "Well, this has been eye-opening, Lady Azura, but I really must get going." He hauled himself to his feet and began to walk away.

     "Wait..." Azura's voice was quite softer than it had been. "I really did enjoy this...Do you think we could meet again?"

     "Meet me here at nightfall in two weeks' time, we can talk more then." The silver haired man replied before he continued his path into the forest. "You should get back to the castle before anyone notices you're missing, you wouldn't want to cause a calamity." He called over his shoulder as he vanished into the treeline. It was refreshing to know a human that wasn't too scared of him for a proper conversation. If that human just so happened to be a breathtakingly beautiful princess, then that'd be just as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1.) One of my favorite things about this pairing is the dynamic perspectives they have over Hoshido and Nohr and that's something - that sort of "bridge the gap/come to an understanding" dialogue - I wanted to preserve. It was a little underplayed here because it wouldn't make sense to spill your guts to someone you just met to this extent, but I plan on continuing to use this theme throughout the rest of the week.
> 
> 2.) This was initially just Kamui wandering through the forest alone doing nothing and THEN gets drawn to Azura by her singing but I had to give him something to be doing and one thing led to another and through it all, I accidentally turned Shigure and Kana into even more of a Generation Xerox to their parents... Oops. Also, on a related note, since there is absolutely nothing pointing to the contrary, I am thoroughly convinced that Azura is just as much of a Disney Princess as her son.  
> S̶p̶e̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶S̶h̶i̶g̶u̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶l̶i̶e̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶i̶r̶t̶y̶ ̶v̶e̶g̶e̶t̶a̶r̶i̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶i̶d̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶ 
> 
> 3.) I am aware of how many cliche check boxes I ticked with yesterday's post but every single trope of the stereotypical "edgy swordsman" that I invoked was done so either to be poked at or deconstructed. As today showed, Kamui is still too soft to be seriously edgy and being around a pretty girl makes it even harder.


	3. Dragon's Justice - Day Three, Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As planned, Azura meets Kamui by the forest spring, eager to tell him what people have been talking about over the past two weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone for one second thought "Anankos doesn't go insane, Azura's father lives, Valla is never ripped apart by a godlike dragon on a rampage" means that this is some sort of Good End AU, you're in for quite the nasty surprise. If you realized there'd be a catch, then good on you for understanding how I do things.

     Hues of red, orange, blue, and violet lit the sky and the setting sun cut patches through the forest canopy. The shadows grew with each passing moment of the dying light. Azura's feet walked a familiar path; one invisible and only known to her; one that soon led her to a clearing where a familiar silver-haired figure lounged in the grass as he waited for her. 

     "Good evening, Kamui." She greeted.

     "Lady Azura, it's good to see you." Kamui replied. He propped himself up on his forearms and looked at her with a gentle smile. He wasn't wearing his armor today; instead, he wore a simple light gray tunic with sleeves that stopped just above his elbows and a pair of black trousers. As always, he was completely barefoot.

     "You as well, it's been too long." She returned the smile as she walked across the glade to sit next to Kamui. At such a close distance, she couldn't help but notice the array of dull colored slash marks adorning his arms. What drew her attention more than that, however, was the large crystalline rock hanging from his belt. Kamui fixed her with a scrutinizing look before he followed her gaze to the stone at his side.

     "Ahh. This is a Dragonstone." He explained. "They're used for containing a dragon's power and allow my people to transform between our dragon and humanlike forms at will."

     "How does it work?" Azura asked as she slowly reached out to touch it.

     "I'm not entirely certain if I'm being honest." Kamui said with a short laugh. "All I know is that I just have to touch it and focus." His hand drifted down to touch the stone and his fingers brushed hers in the process. Azura quickly recoiled her hand as his touch brought a slight warmth to her cheeks. She didn't understand why, she just hoped he didn't notice. He was enveloped in a white hot flash and when it faded, he wore the same helmet he wore the night they met and the princess was instantly reminded of the happenings from the past two weeks.

     "You know, people have started to call you a hero, Kamui." Azura told him as she stared into his featureless face. It was barely noticeable, especially in this light, but she could have sworn she saw two large, dark eyes blink at her from beneath the surface.

     "Really, now?" The draconic man asked. The blue-haired woman shuddered as he spoke, still far from used to seeing the sights that came with him talking in this form but quickly composed herself and responded with a silent nod. Kamui hummed thoughtfully and the antenna-ribbons, or rather just 'antennae' since they seemed to be part of his dragon form, gently oscillated up and down to an unheard rhythm.

     "You're not just called the Guardian anymore." Azura elaborated. "The townsfolk call you a champion of the wronged. Condor activity is the lowest it's been in years and the royal spies within the organization claim that they call you a "phantom sent by Anankos himself". What's more is that the Dragonslayer Movement has started to back down from their pro-war propaganda."

     "A phantom sent by Anankos, huh?" Kamui parroted softly. "And you say that the group that wants my people dead is starting to back down?"

     "There's a dragon roaming the streets of Lydeus in the night that protects the weak and the innocent and wages a one man army war against a group of organized criminals. How else do you expect people to react to the very thing they fear protecting their families and cleaning up their home?" She asked him. He didn't have an answer for her.

     "I didn't think I'd get this far in such a short amount of time." The dragon admitted. "This has been my plan all along, though: to invoke the fear your people have of mine as I bring justice to the wicked. Maybe then humans would see my people as something other than a tribe of monsters to be feared." There was another flash and Kamui revealed his face to show a somber, pensive expression.

     "Can you really blame them for being afraid, though?" Azura asked. "The destruction of the Brightwood and the ensuing famine...I was too young to have any memories of this happening, but Anankos almost destroyed our very way of life." Something dark flashed in Kamui's eyes.

     "That wasn't his fault..." Kamui said in a deathly whisper.

     "I'm sorry, could you speak up?" The princess leaned in a little closer.

     "I said that wasn't his fault..." The way his voice and body shook, how heavily he hung on each word...was he...crying? "He didn't mean to, He just lost control..." Kamui's posture slumped and his breaths began to come in erratically.

     "He lost control and then everyone hated him, even after everything he'd done for them...so he..." The silver-haired man took a deep breath and angled his eyes up to the first stars of the night. "He sealed himself in a cave and wouldn't come out or let anybody in, not even me or my mother. He didn't even come out for the birth of my little sister. He disappeared completely for two years until the humans' king - your father - managed to set things right." Azura suddenly felt very awkward and, more than that, she felt utterly cold and tactless. She reached out tentatively and slowly, gently, laid her hand on the young man's shoulder. He turned his head to look at her. A few stray tears had slipped down his cheeks to leave trails that glistened in the moonlight.

     "I shouldn't have said that, Kamui..." She tried to offer him a sad, remorseful smile. "It was tactless of me to not think about what might have happened on the other side of things. I'm sorry."

     "You don't have to apologize..." He said as he reached up to wipe at his cheeks. "I'm being selfish...While your people's reactions might have hurt my family and my people, the famine did much more than that; it hurt countless families, took irreplaceable lives...What right do I have to be upset?" He jolted in surprise as Azura tightened her grip on his shoulder so that she was embracing him at arm's length.

     "You have every right to be upset!" She insisted. "The suffering of others doesn't invalidate yours. Your father neglected you; neglected your mother and your sister. You're not selfish for having been traumatized by that and you're not selfish for that trauma still having an effect on you. You're forced to carry the sins of your father and made to bear that burden as your own and you're not selfish for struggling under that weight." His face was almost child-like in his reaction to her reassurance and reminded her that, for all his inhuman strength, for as selfless as his mission was for both the sake of humans and dragons alike, he was barely older than her and, as such, was still quite young and inexperienced.

     "Thank you, Azura..." He wiped his tears away one last time and the corners of his mouth started to pull upward. "Err...L-Lady Azura, I mean."

     "It's alright, you can drop the formalities when it's just us. In fact, I actually like it." She admitted. She smiled at him and he returned his own sad but nonetheless genuine smile.

     "Azura...Thank you." He lurched forward and pulled her into a bear hug. "Thank you for listening...for understanding..." He quivered against her but his breaths started to come in much more evenly.

     "Of course." Azura said warmly. "You're my friend and I know you'd do the same for me." She wished he wouldn't hug so tightly but she returned his embrace nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I get into any major notes, very important: shoutouts to TheApocryphalOne and her story The Invisible Princess, from which this takes multiple subtle inspirations and two big, not at all subtle inspirations, which would be the name of the forest Anankos destroyed (Brightwood) and why its destruction was significant aside from just "Ahhhh dragons are scary" (food source) She is an excellent world builder and I think that she did a wonderful job filling the holes where things about Valla were left unexplained across all 3 of the major fanfictions she's done for Fates. (Please don't kill me for this blatant concept thievery, Apo. If you take issue with this, come talk to me about it and I'll make adjustments accordingly...preferably when I'm not out of my mind, though)
> 
> Next, I want to talk about Kamui's emotions here. I'd been planning to use the line "That wasn't his fault" from the beginning but didn't really have anything else planned aside from the general scenario. One thing led to another and he had a minor breakdown and that felt right to me; Kamui felt comfortable enough around Azura to be more emotionally open, she brought up a really touchy subject in a tactless way, and he let her see his emotional response. Additionally, while some might see Kamui as a bit too soft in comparison to canon, I honestly think there were times in canon where he wasn't soft enough and would hardly react to something that should upset or at the very least BOTHER him given his character and that really doesn't sit right with me.


	4. Sky and Sea - Day Four, Color

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After almost three months of frequent meetings in the secluded glade, Kamui decides to take Azura to see his home.

     Kamui stared into the spring and its reflection of the early evening sky above him. Ripples disturbed the water's surface as he plunged his hands into the cool liquid and splashed it against his face. He breathed a sigh of relief as the water's touch fought the intense summer heat. Footsteps and the rustle of the forest's underbrush brought a smile to his face as he turned to face the young woman picking her way into the clearing.

     "Azura!" It had only been a week since they last talked but, at this point, he was no longer afraid to admit to himself that, even after only a week, he had started to miss her. To admit that to  _her_ , however, would be something else entirely and the mere thought of it made his whole body feel tense.

     "It's nice to see you, Kamui." Azura greeted. "What do you have in store for today?" Over the past weeks, the two would alternate in coming up with something for them to do. One week, Kamui taught Azura how to fish with just her hands and she taught him the steps to a dance the next. She'd teach him an aspect of the history of Valla one week and the week after that would see him teaching her some customs of the Silent Dragon Tribe. 

     "There's a part of my homeland that I want you to see for yourself." He was excited to return to the mountains for the first time in almost a year and equally excited to take her with him. "There's a catch though; we're not going to get there anytime soon if we go on foot."

     "That sounds lovely but if we can't go on foot, what are you suggesting instead? Are we going to use the Dragon's Waterways?" Kamui couldn't help but notice the curiosity that shined in her gleaming golden eyes.

     "Even then, it would be quite the trek. No, I had something different in mind." He took a deep breath and focused his energy and thoughts. As a blue curtain wrapped itself across his vision, he reared up, dropped to all fours, and craned his long neck to look at the human princess. "We're going to fly there." The young dragon unfurled his wings and gave them a few test flaps. Blades of grass bowed before him and Azura's hair and the skirt of her dress fluttered in the breeze. She looked at him apprehensively; she had ridden on his back before but that was still on land.

     "It can't be too different from riding a pegasus, can it? From what you tell me, you're an exceptional pegasus rider." He slowly trotted over towards her and lowered himself.

     "Well, yes, but you don't have any reigns or a saddle so there's not exactly anything to keep me from falling." The young woman shifted on the spot nervously.

     "I'll catch you if you fall. I promise." Kamui assured her tenderly. Azura shyly averted her gaze and...wait, was she  _blushing_ _?_  

     "Oh, alright." She said in mock exasperation. She hauled herself onto the dragon's back and looped her arms around his neck.

     "Comfy?" His question was answered with an affirmative hum. "Then hold on tight." Kamui dramatically unfurled his wings to their fullest extent and began to flap them forcefully to slowly lift himself and his passenger into the air. As they ascended higher and higher, Kamui could feel Azura's arms tighten around him. Once he had cleared the top of the treeline, he moved to streamline his body as best he could while still accommodating the young woman clinging to him for dear life. He twisted in mid air to face the mountains and began to push the air behind him instead of only straight down.

     The forest below grew distant as he climbed higher and higher and, as he stilled his wings to soar on the air currents, it turned into a blur of shades of green. To his right, the sea was lit up by the sun; to his left, Lydeus sprawled around Castle Gyges, whose towering spires reached into the sky but even the tallest of the castle's towers didn't reach as high as he was now. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the wind on his face.

     "Hang on, Azura! It's about to get bumpy!" He called over the roaring winds. If he had any lips, they would be pulled back in a massive grin.

     "What do you mea-" She cut herself off with a scream as he forced his wings back to close at his sides and shot forward in a corkscrew roll with a joyous whoop. "Don't do that again, please!" Azura called when he righted himself.

     "What? I can't hear you! Do that again, you said?" Kamui asked. He laughed as he received a dull thump against his back in response. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" He craned his neck to look at her in his peripheral vision. Her cheek was pressed against his neck as she laid flat against it, her hair a disheveled mess that whipped about out behind her in the wind. Her eyes were squeezed shut. "Hey, you alright?" He asked as gently as he could with how loud he had to talk to be heard over the wind. She opened her eyes to look at him.

     "I'm fine, just try to be careful, okay? Riding a dragon is a lot different from riding a pegasus, you know." Azura replied. Kamui nodded and turned his head back to face forward.

     "As you wish!" He said.

     From there, the two rode the winds in amicable silence. Before long, they had reached their destination and Kamui began a slow, spiraling descent onto a cliff overlooking the sea. When he touched down, Kamui reared onto his hind legs and returned to his manakete form, Azura still hanging onto him with her arms around his neck. She let go and dropped to the dusty ground of the rocky cliff.

     "This is what I wanted to show you." Kamui said. His arms were stretched out to gesture to, seemingly, everything around them. The young woman behind him stepped to the side to see what he was gesturing to; the sun lit up the sea with hues of gold and blue as it set. "What do you think?"

     "It's beautiful..." She gasped softly. Kamui's gaze drifted down to her hand at her side, mere inches away from his own. He looked straight ahead, clenched his hand into a fist, and took a deep breath. Without so much as an attempt for a word, he reached out and tenderly took her hand into his. He expected to be reprimanded but instead, she ran her thumb over his knuckles before she laced her fingers between his. He turned his head to look at her with dumbfounded awe. She looked up at him and smiled silently. His lips pulled up slightly but he could tell he still looked stupified.

     "Yeah, it really is, isn't it?" Kamui murmured after he finally found his voice. Her brilliant golden eyes captivated him and, try as he might, this moment wouldn't allow him to look away. As he angled his head towards hers and slowly leaned down, he managed to tear his eyes from hers from a brief moment to flick his gaze to her lips before he got lost in a honey-colored labyrinth once more. Her eyes softened and she reached up to lay her free hand against his cheek. He closed his eyes and steeled himself before he finally leaned in the rest of the way for his lips to meet hers. They were only connected for a few seconds but that's all it took for her to steal all the air from his lungs. In those agonizingly brief moments of bliss, he was drowning and the only way to come up for air would be to pull himself from her and that's the last he wanted to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you can't tell, I kind of have a thing for sunsets.


	5. Warmth of You - Day Five, Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With it too dark to safely return to Lydeus, Kamui invites Azura to stay the night among the dragons. The human princess becomes to the first of her people to make contact with the Silent Dragon Tribe in almost 2 decades. Takes place immediately after the events of Day 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna have to ask you guys to bear with me on this one. While it DOES start out as "Azurrin in the Guardian of Valla AU" it quickly turns into "Guardian of Valla AU, Azura just so happens to be there" but it does get back to Azurrin eventually and gets fluffier than anything else (read: unapologetically cheesy)

     When they broke apart, Azura stared at him and giggled sweetly at the persisting dumbstruck look upon his face. The blue-haired woman turned her head to look out to the blues, reds, yellows, and oranges of the darkening sky and shining sea and dropped her head against Kamui's shoulder. She let out a gentle, contented sigh.

     "I'm so glad you feel the same..." She murmured. Her cheeks felt hot as she nuzzled ever so slightly against the crook of his neck.

     "Yeah, me too..." He said, his voice floaty and distracted. He stood stock still but as the moments passed he began to relax against her. He turned to face her and pulled her into a tight embrace. His posture stiffened almost immediately and he quickly pulled away. "Oh, shit..." Kamui swore under his breath.

     "I know you're there! Come on out!" The young man called over his shoulder. He was met with an amused scoff echoing off the rocks somewhere behind them.

     "And here I'd thought your time among the humans would have dulled your senses and made you soft." A young male's voice sounded behind them. The speaker's voice was distorted in the same way Kamui's was whenever he took draconic form. Azura turned around just in time to watch a dragon about half the size of Kamui - and that was generously describing his size - descend from a collection of boulders above them. His scales were mostly tan and brown, with patches of black here and there and a symmetrical collection of mossy green blots on his face.

     "Anthony, it's been awhile." Kamui inhaled sharply through his teeth before he greeted the newcomer in a voice underscored by something like annoyed tension.

     "I knew you were a human loving traitor, Kamui, but I never thought you'd be so bold as to bring one of the filthy, treacherous creatures to our territory," Anthony kept his head low to the ground as he circled the two. "let alone would I ever think you'd get this  _close_ to one." The young dragon spat out the word close as if it were acid that burned his tongue.

     "I'll say this once; back off. You don't want to fight me." The silver haired man warned. His hand left Azura's to drift to his dragonstone. Anthony completely ignored him.

     "I've never known what any of the others see in you." The small dragon stopped circling to stand right in front of them. Kamui's face showed the start of a glare as he moved to put himself between Azura and the brown dragon before them, where he took a loose, low to the ground stance. "You're soft-hearted, too forgiving of the way  _her_ people treated us, what they've done to us."

     "You know as well as I do that it's not right to condemn an entire species for the actions of one." Kamui said with more pronounced tension in his voice. "You've always had my empathy but that won't stop me from expecting more from you than the hypocrisy you've tried to preach to me."

     "Ugh, how predictably high and mighty of you." Azura could tell the young dragon's patience had, amazingly, already begun to wear thin. "Then again, that's exactly like something your father would say. How does that human phrase go? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?"

     "My father is a kind and gentle soul, so I'll take that as a compliment." Kamui's voice was laced with anger now but he seemed perfectly calm in comparison to the brown dragon before him. "Several thousand years have taught him to be humble and forgiving; lessons I think you could stand to learn."

     "Anankos is nothing but an old fool! The only thing 'several thousand years' has done is addle his mind!" The young dragon started to pace and his tail began to violently swing back and forth in barely contained rage.

     "If my father is a fool, then what does that make you?" The older dragon demanded. "His knowledge is beyond your lifetime and - even after the accident that, need I remind you, happened before you were born - he's always had greater control over his rage than you ever have. You may talk big but you have neither the wisdom nor the power to back up your foolishly courageous accusations."

     "Stop lecturing me!" All at once, Anthony snapped. He reared up and crashed back down to stomp his forelegs against the rocky ground. "I have had enough of you! Fight me, here and now!"

     "If you insist. Forget about time, perhaps I should teach you a lesson myself." Kamui taunted. Before he even transformed, however, a firm female voice cut through the air from directly behind them.

     "Enough!" The voice called. Azura turned slowly and expected to see another fully transformed dragon entering the mix. Instead, she saw a tall woman dressed in flowing white robes with a cascade of dark hair running down her back. Same as Kamui, her eyes were cut down the middle by slitted pupils and a pair of pointed ears poked out from the sides of her head. Perhaps such traits were hallmarks of manaketes?

     "La-Lady Mikoto!" Anthony stammered. The newcomer fixed him with an unamused gaze that caused him to flee; he leapt over the group of humans - rather, the two manaketes and the human sandwiched between them - in front of him to scamper off and disappear behind a cluster of rocks.

     "M-Mother! I know you say that I shouldn't stoop to his level and antagonize him or not to give into his childish anger but I-" Kamui's panicked explanation was cut short as Mikoto pulled him into her embrace.

     "Forget about all of that, just for now." Her voice was one of the gentlest Azura had ever heard, like night and day from the sharp, commanding tone she took mere moments before. "It's wonderful to see you again, Kamui. We've all missed you so much."

     "M-Mother..." Kamui returned Mikoto's hug and buried his face in her shoulder. "I've missed you too."

     "Look at you!" She said with a warm smile after pulling back. "It's hard to believe it's only been a year."

     "Mother, please..." Kamui shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. His entire face, as well as the tips of his ears, began to turn bright red. He looked to Azura with a gaze that practically shouted  _help me_. She coughed in hopes that would be enough to draw attention away from Kamui.

     "Oh, where are my manners?" Mikoto exclaimed as if she only just now noticed Azura's presence. "Forgive me. You looking strikingly familiar but I can't quite remember why."

     "I don't believe we've met. I am Azura, Princess of Valla and it's a pleasure to meet you." The blue-haired woman curtsied slightly but didn't put much into it.

     "Oh, that explains it! You must be Telyrus and Arete's child, no?" A light of recognition shown in the older woman's eyes.

     "You know my parents?" Azura asked. Mikoto must have been someone important if she was on first name basis with the King and Queen of Valla. Then again, if she were Kamui's mother, that would make her the mate of Anankos and she would, therefore, be royalty in her own right.

     "Of course! You were just a little baby when I last saw you, but now look at you." They hadn't known each other for five minutes yet the dragons' queen still doted on her. 

     "Er, right..." Azura shuffled her feet slightly, now in total understanding of what Kamui felt when he shot her that look.

     "Well, I'll leave the two of you be for now. I wouldn't want to intrude on anything." Mikoto's voice was calm still but with a barely noticeable trace of mischievousness tone that turned Kamui's whole face strawberry red. He opened his mouth to speak only to say nothing and close it before opening again in a repeating cycle as she walked away.

     When the two were finally alone, Kamui shook his head vigorously, loosened his tight posture, and finally found his words once more.

     "I, uh, hope you don't mind staying." He said with a few sheepish rubs to the back of his head. "I probably should have told you before we left but flying back in the night isn't a very good idea. Do you mind spending the night here?" His voice faded out and Azura could just barely hear him add the words "with me" to the end of his sentence.

     "Of course I don't mind." She reached for his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It would be nice to know where you are in the deep of night, for a change." He looked at her excitedly but, at the same time, with confusion and with mild apprehensiveness. Such a joyful yet inquisitive and expecting gaze made her cheeks feel even hotter with embarrassment than they already did. "I-I've worried about you, Kamui. At first, it was only after the night you started to open up to me but it didn't take long before I went to sleep every night with the last thought on my mind worrying if you'd live to see the dawn..."

     "Azura..." His gaze softened and a guilty grimace pulled at his lips. "I never knew...I'm sorry for making you worry..."

     "Don't you understand, Kamui?" She squeezed his hands tighter. "I worry about you because I care about you too much to bear the thought of never seeing you again. I worry because I love you, Kamui!" She had already demonstrated this with her actions but to finally speak what was deep in her heart lifted a huge weight from her shoulders. She further demonstrated her feelings by stepping into him and leaning her head against his chest with her arms wrapped tightly around him, as if he would once again disappear into the darkness of the encroaching night if she let go. "I love you and I would love to stay here, to stay with you."

     "Alright, as you wish." Kamui said softly. He pulled her closer and hugged her just as tightly as she hugged him. "We'll spend the night together, just you and me."

* * *

     As intolerant and ignorant as it might make her sound, Azura honestly expected the Silent Dragons to live in caves like savages but the mountain village where Kamui had lived was dotted with houses made of carved bricks and was one of many like it scattered across the mountain range. Kamui had lived alone in his own house before he descended the mountains to live close to the humans and begin his cause. It was far smaller than what Azura was used to. The small house had two rooms; a living room with a narrow table as well as three chairs in a small kitchen by the door and bench facing a hearth decored with a few charred, splintered branches at the far side of the room. A stack of well-worn blankets sat in the corner of the room to the right of the hearth and to the left was a curtained doorway that lead into a small bedroom with a simple dresser and a single bed that was just big enough to accommodate two people but only if they slept very close together - not that she had a problem with that. All furniture was carved from slightly charred looking wood.

     Azura took a seat on the bench and Kamui lit a fire in the hearth before he joined her. She curled up and leaned against him and he draped his arm around her shoulder.

     "I really am sorry for worrying you." He said somberly. "I want to make you feel safe so worrying you is the last thing I want to do." He looked down at her with a sad smile, the light of the fire partially reflected in his eyes to give his gaze a passionate flare.

     "I already told you, I only worry because I care." She shifted her gaze from his blazing ruby eyes to the crackling flames they reflected. "I don't want you out in the night fighting back the source of what poisons Lydeus, I want you by my side, where I'll always know you're safe. Does that make me selfish?"

     "Maybe it does," Kamui mused quietly. "but I think we can both indulge in selfish desire for one night." He reached out and gently pulled her face back towards him. He closed his eyes and leaned in to gently press his lips against hers but the force she pushed back with was far more passionate. She pressed her tongue against his lips, begging entry, and he happily obliged. For all the burning passion behind it, the kiss burnt out relatively quickly as Kamui broke away with a gasp and he began to sputter for air.

     "If what I heard is right, then Silent Dragons were originally from the sea. For someone who was born to be a strong swimmer, you aren't very good at holding your breath." Azura teased. She was more than content to snuggle against him, though. After he gained his composure, Kamui wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her as close as he possibly could. In turn, Azura rested her head against his chest and she stilled to listen to his heartbeat, which was an unending reminder that he was here with her, that he was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we see probably the largest scope character rewrite in this entire AU; Anthony. Originally an easily forgettable, throwaway character that was part of an arc that was a failed attempt at punishing and amending Corrin's naivete. Now, he's a mirror to the Dragonslayer Movement; a pro-war dragon that wants to exterminate the humans. He DOES have his reasons and is a character with more depth than someone we know in canon that was a dragon looking to exterminate humanity but I'll get into all that when I'm not in the middle of AzurrinWeek. Also, Mikoto's a dragon now and that's cool or whatever.
> 
> For the record, I have zero experience writing romance outside of cheesy fluff so count that kiss towards the very end there as me dipping my toe in the waters of something less innocent.


	6. Vow - Day Six, AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After thinking on it for much too long, Corrin finally manages to put what's been plaguing his mind to word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I was not in error in calling him Corrin instead of Kamui in the summary. Since I've been working with an AU all week I figured I'd do AU day with the canon universe as kind of a flip deal. 
> 
> I feel the need to warn you guys that, even including yesterday, this is almost undoubtedly the most needlessly, unapologetically, horribly cheesy thing I have written to date because I am a sappy, hopeless romantic.

     A steady rate of foot falls and clopping horse hooves were all that broke the silence that eternally permeated the remnants of the Lost Kingdom of Valla. There was no birdsong, nor any chirping insects. No wind blew. Water was everywhere but it did not flow. The only sign that time itself had not frozen completely was the forward march of an army convoy led by the combined forces of Nohr and Hoshido. The stone path before them was bright but there was no sun to light up the sky nor a sky to house the sun. Instead, the light seemed to come directly from the blank whiteness that filled the horizon. It was impossible to tell the passage of time but the army's proximity to Castle Gyges as well as the ache that filled his legs told Corrin that they'd been marching for several hours.

     "Kaze, Silas, can you two come up here?" He called over his shoulder. Within moments, he was flanked by a Master Ninja at his left and a Paladin at his right. "We've been marching for a long while now and I've decided that now would be a good to rest. Spread the word to the troops." His retainers nodded and fell back into the ranks. Slowly, the army came to a stop. Mounts were led off the cracked stone road to graze, waterskins were filled, and sighs of relief were breathed by all. Corrin beckoned the woman that had been at his side since all this trouble started as he headed towards the side of the road.

     "I was wondering when you were going to call for a rest. You look exhausted." Azura noted as she joined him to sit in a patch of grass. He looked exhausted only because he  _felt_ exhausted; he hadn't gotten proper sleep in, presumably, days. Being at war with an enemy that you can't exactly track wasn't the source of his recent restlessness but it certainly didn't help matters.

     "I haven't been sleeping well." Corrin sighed. His girlfriend smiled at him sympathetically and laid her hand over his.

     "Bearing the stress of planning a war when the whole world weighs in the balance can't be easy." She said. "But, soon, this will all be over and you can put all this behind you."

     "I don't want that. To put everything behind me, I mean." The silver-haired man looked intently into her golden eyes. "That would mean putting you behind me and I don't want that at all."

     "Of course I didn't mean to include myself in that but you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that." A light blush dusted her cheeks as she pulled Corrin closer and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to her beloved's lips.

     "It's truly the exact opposite of what I want." He said after she pulled away. "I love you far too much to ever want to leave you." He took a quick sweep of the area to make sure they were alone. He wasn't sure how the troops would react to seeing their commander act like a doting lovebird. On top of that, he knew for certain it would make Azura uncomfortable. He'd been gently - and sometimes not so gently - chided enough to know that she wasn't a fan of public displays of affection.

     "Oh, Corrin. I love you just as much." A warm smile stole Azura's face and her eyes lit up. No matter how many times he said it, those three simple words had yet to fail to bring a smile to her face and the reverse was just as true with him.

     Corrin took a deep breath and clenched his free hand until he felt his nails bite into his skin. Now was a good a time as ever and it would be best to get this out now before the siege of Castle Gyges caused too much chaos to get a proper chance to speak with her again until it was all over. He couldn't help but laugh internally at how ridiculous his lack of courage here was when put into perspective. He willingly dropped himself into a yawning abyss without a second thought out of trust for the woman he now called his girlfriend. He recklessly flung himself in front of his allies time and time again to take blows in their stead without hesitation. He followed a complete stranger into an obvious trap knowing he probably wouldn't come back alive on the slim chance that a "secret passage" was real. All those situations of foolhardy courage yet here he was, unable to spit out a simple four word question. Finally, he swallowed the lumps in his throat and forced it out.

     "I don't really have anything prepared for this but..." With her hand in his, Corring slowly stood up and looked down at her with complete and total adoration. "Azura, after this is all over, will you marry me?"

     "Yes! Yes, of course, I will!" She sprang up into his arms and he spun her around before holding her close to his chest. "Of course I will." Azura repeated, softer this time.

     The now betrothed couple stood there, in each other's embrace, without a sound. They lost themselves in each other's eyes until the entire world around them seemed to fade away until there was nothing but the two of them, gently swaying to a melody that only they could hear.

     "This may sound silly but...I think I've loved you from the moment we met." Corrin admitted. After hearing those few, simple words, his anxiety had passed and there was no shame or uncertainty to be found in his voice, only a gentle, honey-smooth tone.

     "Fate had our lives intertwined before even then." Azura whispered in his ear. "This could only have been meant to be."

     "Meant to be..." The young man echoed with a soft chuckle. "Well, if my life is fated to be bound to anyone, I'm glad it's with you."

     "Please, love, never let me go." She pleaded quietly.

     "Never." Corrin promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have taken a lot of inspiration for my interpretation of Valla from Sunken Hyrule but in my defense, the two are fairly similar in concept - a great evil stirring in a kingdom sealed away below the world while the people who live on the surface know nothing of this forgotten land, let alone the evil lurking there waiting to destroy them all.


	7. Lullaby for a Dragon - Day Seven, Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamui quells a young prince to sleep with a lullaby his mother used to sing for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our finale is rather short, at least in comparison (but it DOES shove me over the 10k word line) but I think the work I put into writing a song more than makes up for that. I've got a melody and everything, I just don't really have any way to show it off since I can't play any instruments and my singing voice isn't the greatest. I'll bring the song to life eventually but it's more than likely going to be awhile.

     The King Consort of Valla's eyes flung open as the cries of his infant son reached his ears. Kamui could feel his wife shift to rise from their bed but he laid a hand on her shoulder before he moved to rise himself.

     "Rest, love. I'll take care of him." He planted a kiss on Azura's cheek before he got out of bed and walked across the room to the cradle where the young Prince Shigure laid. "Shh, it's alright, Papa's here." Kamui cooed as he leaned over to take his baby boy into his arms. Shigure calmed slightly in his father's arms but his wails persisted. "Aww, what's wrong, my little raindrop?" He gently bounced him in his arms before going through all the checks; it couldn't have been too long since Azura woke up to feed him so he wasn't hungry, his clothes were completely clean and dry, a few soft pats to his back calmed him slightly but he didn't burp or spit up so it couldn't have been gas, and he didn't have a fever.

     "Guess you were just lonely, huh?" Kamui murmured. He held his son at arm's length and, though he could barely see him in the dark was dark, he admired his face. He had his mother's nose and her beautiful golden irises but the shape of his eyes and jaw were more like his, albeit significantly softer from youth. Shigure also had his father's pointed ears and possibly his fangs as well. The boy extended his arms out to reach for his father, his cries were little more than whines now and even those began to die down. Kamui pulled him back to his chest and dangled a finger above his face which Shigure reached for with his tiny hands, wrapping his even tinier fingers around his father's index finger. The king let out a soft chuckle and the gentle smile on his lips grew as he looked at how small his son's hands were in comparison to his own. He could stand there with his son in his arms forever but sleep clouded his mind and, although he loved him dearly, Kamui really just wanted to go lay down again.

     "Shigure, Papa's got..." He interrupted himself with a yawn. "Papa's got a big day tomorrow, so I need you to go back to sleep for me, okay?" Shigure merely blinked. "I'll sing you a song. I'm not as good at singing as your Mama but I'm better than I was when she first met me."

     It was a song he remembered well, a song his own mother sang to him and his sister every night when they were children.

* * *

     Kamui stifled a yawn as he followed his mother down the hall to the bedroom he shared with Lilith. If he were to lift his head, he would see his little sister looking down at him from over their mother's shoulder. He didn't have the energy for that, though. Really, he barely had the energy to put one foot in front of the other. Only two things beckoned him on: the promise of finally being able to collapse and rest his head after a long day of being hard at play and the promise of his mother singing that lullaby that he loved so much, the same one she sang for him almost every night, probably going as far back as to when he was a baby.

     It was tricky when he felt like his arms and legs felt like they'd been tied up with stones, but he managed to make the short climb from his floor to his bed without any serious problems. From where he lay propped up against the headboard, he lazily swept his gaze across the narrow, simply furnished room. On one end were two beds, both with a bedside table, pushed into the corners with a plush deerskin rug spread the length of the floor as well between them. Two wardrobes stood against the far wall, spaced enough to comfortably fit a rocking chair betwixt them.

     "Mama, will you sing for us?" Kamui asked after Mikoto set Lilith down in her bed.

     "Of course, dear." His mother answered.

_Born of bonds and sea foam_  
_Rocked to sleep in tide's flow_

      Mikoto's singing voice was quiet and gentle. It was a sound that felt like the equivalent of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's night.

_The sea is your cradle_  
_The sand is your bed_

      He didn't really understand what the words meant but he vaguely recalled hearing about his people's origins in the sea.

_Rest now, little dragon_  
_Lay down your head_

"Good night, Lilith." Mikoto said quietly. She leaned down and planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

      "Night night, Mama." Lilith replied after she loosed a surprisingly big yawn for such a little girl.

      "Good night, Kamui." Mikoto had to brush her son's bangs out of the way to kiss his forehead.

      "Good night, Mama." Kamui murmured.

      With her children on the verge of falling asleep, Mikoto blew out two of the three candles in the room and silently retreated from the nursery, closing the door behind her. A candle on the wall by the door was the only source of light in the room and its flickering flame painted the walls with gentle light and dancing shadows.

      "Night night, Kamy." Lilith whispered from across the room. He couldn't find the energy to formulate even the simplest of replies other than a quiet yawn. "Kamy? Big bwothew?" His eyelids felt so heavy and he lost the strength to keep them open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I used here is only the first of three verses of the Lullaby for a Dragon. This song bears a pretty substantial significance to this AU (it's more subtle than the significance of Lost in Thoughts All Alone to canon but it's still very important) and the other two verses will be introduced at two major events down the road.
> 
> Ignoring the other two verses, there are other parts of the Lullaby for a Dragon that I want to go in depth on. While LfaD is, first and foremost, a song (obviously), it was initially part of its own AU. Eventually, I realized a vast majority of the LfaD AU fit very well into Guardian of Valla, so I cut away everything to do with Nohr and Hoshido and made LfaD part of GoV. Doing this left a lot of free floating OCs and AU concepts and I do plan on working with those as well, eventually. (I actually have something in the final stages of planning for one of said free floating OCs, expect something in the not too distant future)
> 
> I told you guys that I'm not done with Fates by a long shot and I meant it. It's not a perfect game and I won't try to say that it is but its imperfections, plot holes, and even just the general flow gives me so much more to work with than, say, Shadows of Valentia (as a gamer, I vastly prefer SoV to Fates but as a fanfiction writer, I vastly prefer Fates to SoV)
> 
> \--------------------  
> Now, lightning round: addressing a few things that I haven't addressed previously. Go!
> 
> One of the minor differences between canon and GoV is the age difference between Azura and Kamui. In canon, I'd say that Azura is no more than 2 years older than Corrin. In GoV, a few pivotal events here and there hinged on Kamui having memories of the fallout from the destruction of the forest, so I needed to make him older than Azura. Here, the age difference is 3 years.
> 
> The age difference between Kamui and Lilith (and between Corrin and Lilith in general for any possible AUs I have where Mikoto!Lilith is a thing) is 4 years, meaning that Azura's only a year older than Lilith in GoV but under normal circumstances could be as much as 6 years older.
> 
> The reason Kamui has the Alpha Yato is not unlike the reason the Yato was originally made and I'm implying EXACTLY what you think I'm implying. I'll play with that at a later date,  
> though, that's at almost the very end of Kamui's era of the timeline. (Yes, I have a timeline with multiple eras based on who the focal character(s) is/are, this AU is not just the biggest fanfiction I've ever done, it's the biggest writing project I've ever done period)  
> \--------------------  
> Thanks for sticking around and reading my submissions for AzurrinWeek2017! Hope to do this again next year!


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